Selling and Buying a Home
Real-life real estate advice, plus home decor, gardening and more.
Welcome to the Selling and Buying a Home blog.
My name is Leah Ingram, and, together with my husband, I’ve bought and sold eight homes in the past 20 years. One of those homes we built new.
My husband and I are also the DIY type. We’ve renovated nearly every home we’ve owned. This includes upgrading bathrooms, redoing a kitchen down to the studs and painting a home, top to bottom.
In addition to my personal experience as a homeowner, I’m a writer that has covered real estate for national publications.
For more than a decade I wrote about celebrity real estate, home-buying trends, money-saving tips for moving, curb appeal and more for NBC Universal and Parade Magazine.
Now I’m bringing my aspirational but authoritative and approachable take on selling and buying a home to my own blog. I’m going to share with you what works (and what doesn’t ) when selling a home as well as when you’re buying a home.
Rather than telling you what you want to hear, I’m going to tell you what you need to hear if you want to get a good price on a home you’re selling or buying. Basically, I’m going to cut through the BS and give you real-life, attainable advice that’s applicable to both buyers and sellers.
Finally, I’m also sharing advice on home decorating, maintenance and other topics related to home ownership. This includes how to fit an area rug under a bed or why you might want to paint an accent wall in your home.
However, this is hardly my only blog. I’ve been covering personal finance for nearly as long as I’ve been selling and buying homes. Once we were suddenly frugal. These days we’re real sophisticated consumers.
You’re welcome to read my other blog The Real Sophisticated Consumer here.
Meaning of the Honey Do List
I probably created my first honey do list as soon as my husband and I purchased our first home. I imagine it was to build a playset in the backyard so our daughters had a place to play. Not familiar with the notion of a…
How to Buy Plants with EBT
Did you know that you can buy plants with EBT? Well not all plants but the kinds that produce food. That’s because the food stamps SNAP program is all about helping low-income people eat. So, it’s food-centric. In fact, you can use SNAP EBT to…
What You Need to Know if You Inherit a House
I know that when the sad day comes that my mother has died, I will inherit a house. It will be her home, on a beautiful lake in Maine, that will be the ideal vacation getaway. While I really don’t want to think about that…
How to Clean Your Grill
It’s a good idea to clean your grill on a regular basis. At the very least, you should either give it a good scrub down at the end of grilling season (such as in the fall) or when you’re ready to fire it up again…
Desert Plants for a Drought Tolerant Garden
Choosing the right plants for your desert landscape can significantly conserve water and create a vibrant, low-maintenance oasis in your backyard. It may seem like a daunting task, but this guide aims to simplify it for you with these handpicked 10 of the best drought-tolerant…
Staging a Home to Sell: Quick, Cheap Tips
Having bought and sold seven homes in my lifetime, I know that staging a home to sell is everything. That being said you can go all out with staging–and spend big bucks bringing in a professional–or you can find inexpensive ways to stage your home….
Gen Z Homeownership
Generation Z is pacing ahead for homeownership relative to other generations. This is despite the many hurdles they’ve faced, including: The COVID-19 pandemic Rising inflation A turbulent economy A recent Redfin study found that 30% of 25-year-olds owned their home in 2022 — more than…
Preparing to Live with an Aging Parent
Are you a member of the sandwich generation like I am? Then at one point you may have to prepare your home so you can have an aging parent live with you. In fact, if you can think back to child proofing your home when…
Stress of Buying a Home
If you’ve ever experienced the stress of buying a home, then you know home shopping may be hazardous to your mental health. In fact, a survey from Realtor.com reported that 23% of homebuyers said they scheduled extra therapy sessions to deal with the stress. Given…
Who am I?
I’m Leah Ingram, homeowner seven times over, author of 15 books and journalist, formerly covering real estate for NBC Universal and Parade Magazine.